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The promise of 5G and Internet of Things (IoT) is a future in which an inconceivable number of everyday devices are connected with incredible speeds. 4G was the first mobile system actually designed with global standardization. This was one of the key factors in the success of 4G and the speed of its deployment. Today, the main objective of the communication community is to realize common standards for 5G and build a global system. A first 5G systems have been tested at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Korea. The deployment of other 5G pilot systems will follow at various prestigious events such as the 2020 Summer Olympics in Japan. Finally, users will have 5G devices and will enjoy the full performance of this new technology.We know that test and measurements of 5G enabled devices and base-stations will differ widely from what we are doing today. 5G implies higher and widely available spectrum in the millimeter range, which can accommodate the implementation of Massive-MIMO involving multiple small antennas and in-device processing. This will move the emphasis from the antenna towards system testing. Important parameters, determined from conducted testing for 4G, will likely be performed in Over-The-Air (OTA) setups in tomorrow’s 5G. This puts a strong requirement on the measurement industry to provide effective testing solutions to developers, industries and regulators.In this paper/presentation we will give an introduction to existing measurement technology and a vision on the evolution of testing technology for 5G enabled devices at millimeter wave frequencies.

A domain decomposition technique which allows to perform antenna placement is presented in this paper. The technique is based on the combination of measurements of the source antenna and simulation of the final structure. To enable the “link” between measurements and simulations, the measured antenna is expanded in terms of equivalent currents to create the Huygens box source representation which is compatible with most of the Computational ElectroMagnetic (CEM) tools. The proposed antenna placement procedure is described in detail and an applicative example is reported.

An approach is presented where antenna measurement is combined through model decomposition with electromagnetic simulation for system level vehicle analysis. A brief description of the measurement and simulation process is provided by means of a realistic example of a sharkfin antenna. Various aspects related to antenna placement and EMC coupling for the sharkfin antenna and vehicle model are investigated in detail, highlighting the benefits of this approach.

The development of mobility is moving rapidly towards intelligent connected vehicles, further automation of driving functions and eventually self-driving vehicles. In future automobiles, wireless systems for communications and sensing will play an even more crucial role than today. Within automobiles as well as between multiple automobiles, car-to-car, (C2C) and the surrounding road infrastructure, car-to-infrastructure (C2I), reliable wireless links become indispensable. The communication standards, the vehicular electronic control systems, as well as the hybridisation of cellular and ad-hoc networks are moving towards increased complexity. Additionally, the performance validation is moving towards Over-The-Air (OTA) system testing. Consequently, the requirements on test facilities, equipment and methods increase accordinglyIn this paper, we give an overview of state-of-the art full-vehicular testing with emphasis on recent developments in advanced post-processing techniques to evaluate final system performance. The discussion is supported by measured examples on a car mock-up.

An approach is presented where antenna measurement is combined through model decomposition with electromagnetic simulation for system level vehicle analysis. A brief description of the measurement and simulation process is provided by means of a realistic example of a sharkfin antenna. Various aspects related to antenna placement and EMC coupling for the sharkfin antenna and vehicle model are investigated in detail, highlighting the benefits of this approach.

Antennas installed in modern cars are often highly integrated. In such cases, the entire vehicle is contributing to the radiated field, in particular at lower frequencies such as VHF. The complete characterization of the full vehicle is thus typically required. For frequencies down to 70 MHz, a widely accepted and cost effective solution is a multi-probe spherical Near Field (NF) system in which the scanning area is truncated below the horizon to minimize system dimensions. In order to emulate a proper freespace condition in the lower hemisphere, the ground floor is covered with absorbing material [1]. The partial NF acquisition of such systems leads to truncation errors if standard Near Field to Far Field (NF/FF) transformation is applied [2-3]. The mitigation of truncation error in general measurement scenarios by different post-processing techniques are described in the literature [4-9]. In this contribution, the mitigation capabilities of two techniques are investigated by experiment for an automotive scenario for the first time. The measurements have been performed on a 1:12 scaled vehicle-mounted antenna in a full-sphere multi-probe system. The scaled system and vehicle is representative of a real size system in the frequency range 70–400 MHz. Both truncated and full 3D measurements are performed for comparison.

The spherical near-field antenna measurement system StarLab has evolved to cover the entire frequency band from 800MHz to 18GHz [1, 2, 3]. The system is based on patented probe array technology and the Advanced Modulated Scattering Technique (A-MST) [4, 5]. The StarLab system offers the speed advantages of a probe array, while the mechanical rotation in elevation allows for unlimited angular resolution over the full 3D sphere. By adding a linear scanner, the StarLab system can be converted to a compact cylindrical near field measurement system, as shown in Figure 1. This system is particularly well-suited for measurements of base stationsand other sectorial type array antennas. This paper describes the innovative design aspects of the StarLab portable antenna measurement system, with emphasis on the cylindrical near-field measurement capabilities. The system validation testing has been performed using the inverse source technique [9–11] and with comparative measurement campaigns, including both multiprobe and other traditional (single probe) measurement facilities.

The development, manufacturing and test of dual circular polarized probes with up to 1:2 bandwidth has been discussed. Preliminary measurements with “ideal” BFN show that the design is compliant with the specification.